The State of the Archaeological Market 2020-21 report, during the height of COVID, is now finished. This forward from FAME’s chair sums up its unexpected findings:

This year’s report is remarkable because of the counter-intuitive picture it provides on how commercial archaeological practice successfully managed the risks that Covid 19 and associated lockdowns brought to the economy. The fact that archaeological organizations did not close down, and many have flourished during this period, is testament to the adaptability and inventiveness of managers and staff who appreciated the need to find safe methods of working so, as an industry, we could continue to support our clients in the delivery of essential services.

Although the big transport schemes were obvious essential projects of strategic importance which underpinned some of our income, the survey has shown surprisingly that residential housing was marginally more important as a revenue stream during this period. The effect of HS2, Crossrail and large road schemes had changed the pattern of funding over the past two years from what had previously been a business environment dominated by housing, and now the two sectors are of equal importance as clients for commercial archaeological practice.

It is also reassuring to witness the gradual increase in rates of turnover per staff member and the percentage of profit/surplus that is being achieved. This enables growing levels of investment and training of staff, and provides a stronger foundation for the sustainability of archaeological organizations servicing the private sector.

A record number of archaeologists are now employed in our industry, and yet we are finding recurrent problems in recruitment. On the evidence from the survey it appears that we need to focus on how best to attract, train and retain a larger number of archaeologists, and construct a clearer career trajectory, so that we build in resilience for the future, continue to help the UK economy flourish, and enrich society through dissemination of the results from our investigations.

Tim Malim, Chair: Federation of Archaeological Managers and Employers

You can download the report here – always check here for the most recent version, on occasion changes are made, this is version 1.1:

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